2024 T25U25: Easton Cowan is #2

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When the Toronto Maple Leafs chose Easton Cowan with their first round pick last year, there were doubters – and in case you do not remember, I was one of them. I didn't know much about him at the time, and there were other guys on the board I still quite liked. I had hoped Toronto would take them or trade down, and if they wanted Cowan it seemed like they could have traded down to still get him.

Now? All those doubts seem hilarious in hindsight. Cowan was worth that pick, and he proved it right away.

Easton Cowan	Vitals
Age as of July 1	19.11
Position	C
Height	5'11"
Weight (lbs)	170
Shoots	L
Draft Year	2023
Draft Number	28

The Player

In last year's rankings, Cowan debuted at 10th and you can see the doubts people had considering that Ben Danford as this year's first round pick, which came later, debuted at 5. He can thank Cowan for making people more easily believe in the powers of Wes Clark.

Cowan very quickly impressed everyone starting right after the draft. He was their most interesting player at their development camp. He was arguably their best player at the rookie tournament. He was so good at Toronto's main NHL camp that they kept him around to the very end. And when Cowan returned the OHL, he lit the league on fire.

Cowan set records. He won every version of a 'best player in the league' award there was to win, in the regular season and the playoffs. He turned himself into a lock for Team Canada at the past World Juniors even though his training camp with them was probably the worst he looked all year. He turned an already impressive set of tracking data into something truly ridiculous.

From Mitch Brown's CHL tracking project: https://www.patreon.com/user/posts?u=13951676

To be clear, Cowan is not a perfect player. The Leafs staff and Cowan himself have admitted he needs to make better decisions with the puck. I had said the same things all season, while also adding he needed to make better decisions and avoid taking truly stupid penalties. He also has the same need all young prospects do – getting bigger, stronger, faster, and more explosive.

But honestly, those all feel like nitpicking. He already plays so well in many areas that NHL coaches want from players, especially young prospects. He always works hard. He never stops battling. He continues all of that on defense, and is a legitimate threat offensively while playing shorthanded. His issues are not major red flags that will keep him from the NHL. In one season, Cowan went from "who??" when he was taken well above his average rankings, to a virtual lock to being an NHLer in some capacity. The questions now are all around how good he can be once he arrives, and if he's already good enough to arrive this year.

Easton Cowan Penalty Kill Mix part 1 pic.twitter.com/rE1m8pidw8
— Rink Rat Report (@RinkRatReport) August 14, 2024

The Votes

There were two people who were brave enough to rank Cowan first, and honestly I was tempted. He's already developing on a higher level than any of Toronto's other young star prospects, and at a much more aggressive rate. Here's how the votes break down:

Voter	Vote
Cathy	1
Brian	2
Species	2
Adam	2
Hardev	2
dhammm	2
Cameron S	2
Hound Line	1
brysplace	3
Catch-67	2
Sclodiggity	2
shinson93	2
The Bag	2
Zone Entry	2
Weighted Average	1.93
Highest Vote	1
Lowest Vote	3

If Cowan has taken another and bigger leap in his development this summer, it is not at all unreasonable to wonder if he is NHL ready right now. We won't have long to wait and see, with the mini-prospect tournament against Montreal coming up at the end of the week. Montreal has a lot of top prospects of their own, drafted much higher than Cowan and who are also already older and further developed.

I still expect Cowan to look dominant, because he's made me expect great things by now. Not just flashes either – you don't set records for point streak by not being incredibly consistent.

The Opinions

Here's what the rest of the voters had to say:

dhammm: I was wrong. I could see it coming. I could see the rise in ice time and role. Cowan seemed poised to build on a 2022-23 campaign in which he rose late in the season in the London Knights’ lineup. But it’s not just opportunity, it’s how you attack it, and Cowboy took this opportunity by the horns and rode it through a points streak, with all-situation excellence, to the Memorial Cup. We're no stranger in Leafs Nation to D+1 hype campaigns, and I do think the hype is due for an adjustment; I saw too many "trade Mitch Marner, promote Easton Cowan" tweets and CapFriendly (rip) rosters in June to feel otherwise. But Cowan did almost everything he could to convince me I was wrong about him by Christmas, and the promise he shows gives him a high slot in the Leafs' lacking prospect pool.

Sclodiggity: I was not pleased about this pick at the time like everyone else (I wanted Cristall), and like everyone else my mind was changed after he went supernova and won accolade after accolade last year. He is the most exciting prospect since Marner.

shinson93: Cowan is one of those rare guys that can seem to just will his team to victory by pure effort. While it seems like he’s accomplished everything already, I still see him needing to add some maturity to his game to translate to the next levels. That last loss should give him lots of motivation.

Cameron S: At the time of the draft I will admit that there were a few players that I wanted more than Cowan, however as I watched his highlights and really looked at him as a player I was amazed he wasn’t picked higher. Cowan is one of the hardest working players I’ve seen in a long time, while also being extremely skilled. There’s a reason why he was the OHL MVP for both the regular season and playoffs. What’s impressed me is not only how good he is or his accolades or his records, also the fact he always seems to be learning and improving every game. I truly believe he will be a star in a few years.

Hound Line: Cowan is the only player on the list that has the potential to drive a scoring line. He's got a rare combo of high-end skill, skating and a high motor. While he still has plenty of physical development left, all signs point to him working as hard off the ice as on it.

The Bag: Cowan had a pretty unusual season for a kid who was a “reach” in the first round of last year’s draft. We all know about his success and his promise, so: why not have him 1st? The fact that seemingly everyone was surprised by last year gave me pause. How much did it really reveal about his future? If we, as a group, were overly pessimistic last year, how much should we revise our opinions based on one very good season in the OHL? (What would his season have looked like if he didn’t play for the London Knights?)

Cathy: I ranked him first. I decided I would do that long before the voting started and I'd given any thought to anyone else. I also think I was wrong not to have him first last year. At the risk of opening up Nylander vs Marner take II, I think I have to do the comparison with Matt Knies. And it's not points or trophies or even how Cowan embodies the philosophy of Fraser Minten. It's how he plays without the puck. He does things in the offensive zone when someone else is creating the play that are so useful, so smart, so inclined to make that other guy's offence work that it's NHL-level play. Yes, he still does stupid junior things, but this combination of raging ego and committed team play is intoxicating, because in the right balance it means he will be a positive player as the best player on his line or the worst. And I don't think Matt Knies is quite that valuable. It seems close right now, but I feel good about my choice.

What do you all think? Are you expecting him to become a regular part of the Maple Leafs in the NHL this year? Is he already worthy of the #1 spot? Or do you still think it's smarter to wait and see if he can actually do it before anointing him anything further?

"He's gotten way stronger. His speed, his power, everything's gone up. He's crushing it"

Strength & conditioning coach Trevor Williamson offers inside look at Easton Cowan's quest to make Leafs

"Just the size that he's put on, he's definitely capable"👇https://t.co/2qCEEZCwsU
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) September 7, 2024

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